Back Home
by countrypanther14
Summary: Set in an AU where Big Daddy didn't reconcile with Johnny because the guards stopped him. R&R
1. Chapter 1

**I had to rewrite Back Home. I'm sorry, but I was starting to get writers block on it, and I just didn't like the way it was starting to turn out. So...here you go. Also, as per usual, I own nothing but my OCs.**

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He finally did it. After ten long months of working four jobs, and struggling in school; Johnny finally got enough money to bail out his dad and uncles.

Pulling up to the prison to pick them up, Johnny put the truck in park and turned it off. Resting his head against the steering wheel, and sighing because he had a really bad headache that had been bothering him for the better part of a month. And normally it wouldn't be that bad; but considering he hadn't eaten anything in two days because he was so busy, he didn't get a chance to drink anything or take any medicine all day, and he hadn't been sleeping very well. He was in a lot of pain.

"Hey!" Stan said, breaking him out of his thoughts and making him jump. "You okay? We've been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes."

"Yeah, I-I'm okay," he lied, catching his uncle's skeptical stare before starting the truck back up as Barry got in, and driving the three older gorillas home. Leaving them to do their own thing while he sat on the couch to work on his homework. Because he was _really_ behind on all of his studies, and was in danger of having to repeat his senior year if he didn't get his missing work handed in. But when he tried to finish an essay for his history class, the words on his computer screen started the blur, and he completely forgot how to write.

"Johnny, are you sure you're okay?" Barry asked, seeing his nephew's struggle to get an essay done.

"I'm fine," he said, pushing through the rest of the essay, and rubbing his temples when he was finished because his headache was so bad. And he must have fallen asleep or something, because the next thing he knew, he was laying down on the couch with a blanket over him, and he could hear his dad playing poker with a few other gang leaders in the next room.

"Come on Winnie, you're beating me here," Barry said, as Johnny got up and went to the kitchen to get a drink while the gang leader told Barry not to call him 'Winnie'.

Getting some water out of the fridge, Johnny reached up into the cupboard to get a glass, and barely listened to the chatter in the next room while he got his drink, and guzzled it down. But eventually, everyone erupted into howling laughter that was loud enough to spark another headache.

Pouring himself another glass of water, he put the water jug back, and went upstairs to his room. Taking some painkillers from the bottle that was sitting on his night stand, and laying down to go back to sleep because he was still really tired.

"Hey Johnny!" yelled Baxter, an orangutan gang leader who was playing poker a minute ago. "You awake!?"

"Screw off," he snapped, hoping the orangutan would leave. But he didn't, he just jumped onto the bed and landed right on top of him.

"Baxter, leave Johnny alone!" Stan barked, shooing the orangutan out of the room, and checking on his nephew. "You okay?"

"I just had a full grown orangutan land on my stomach," he said, seeing Stan look at the clock.

"What are you doing going to bed this early? It's not even four o'clock yet."

"I'm tired," he said, feeling his uncle put a hand on his forehead. "I'm not sick."

"Doesn't hurt to check," he said, turning to go make dinner. "I'll be back up in a while to bring you some food."

"Okay," he said, rolling over to take a nap.

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 **R &R.**


	2. Chapter 2

**R &R.**

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When Johnny woke up the next morning, he felt like he didn't sleep at all, and he was freezing cold. And when he smelled Barry's banana pancakes downstairs, the smell made his stomach flip rather than make him hungry.

Getting up from his bed before they came and got him, he went downstairs, and packed up all of his unfinished homework before sneaking out to go to school; because he didn't want to break his perfect attendance record, and he knew he couldn't miss any days without having to make up more work. But his body was begging him to go back home and go back to bed.

Walking up to his school, he went inside and went to his homeroom. Basically just blanking out the rest of his day until the final bell before going back home and crashing on the sofa.

"Were you at school the entire day?" Marcus asked, looking down at his son since Johnny's head was resting on his leg, and feeling him nod before he put a hand on his forehead. Which was burning hot. "With this fever?"

"It's nothing," Johnny said, knowing Marcus wasn't going to care since he wasn't his son anymore.

"What do you mean it's 'nothing'? You're sick," Marcus said, getting up from the couch, and picking Johnny up to take him up to his room. Because he was way too out of it to walk on his own. "Come on. Back to bed with you."

Taking his son back up to his room, he tucked him in, and got the thermometer to see how high his temperature was; getting a reading of 103.2 before he woke him back up to give him more medicine and water.

"I'll be back up to check on you in a little bit," he said, making sure Johnny was warm enough. "Are you sure you don't need me to get you anything else?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Johnny said, trying to stop his teeth from chattering as his dad put a hand on his forehead again.

"You're shivering," he said. "I'll get you an extra blanket."

Going into the hallway to get his son an extra blanket so he wasn't shivering, he heard Johnny start to cough, and went back with the blanket tucked under his arm to rub his back until the coughs subsided.

"I honestly don't understand how you were able to get through an entire day of school like this," he said, tossing the other blanket over his son, and straightening up. "Go to sleep."

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 **R &R**


	3. Chapter 3

**R &R.**

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"Okay, I swear you have to be looking at my cards," Baxter said, as Stan pulled the poker chips in his direction.

"Nope, I just got lucky," he said, re-dealing the cards and leaning back to look at Marcus. "Hey, Marcus. Come join us, we got an extra chair."

"I'm busy," Marcus said, making some soup for Johnny since he knew he hadn't eaten for a while, and would probably be hungry.

Hearing Johnny start to cough again upstairs, Stan put down the cards, and went to check on his nephew. Only for Marcus to stop him, and go up instead; coming back down a few minutes later to get Johnny some more water.

"He okay?" asked Winston, another gang leader who was actually a lion rather than a gorilla or orangutan, as Marcus got the water jug out of the fridge.

"No, Johnny has a fever. And it got worse than what it was earlier," he said, refilling Johnny's glass, and getting a bowl from the cupboard. "I just wish I knew what got into him. I've never seen him under this much stress before over a few failing grades."

"Have you tried talking to him?" Stan asked, making Marcus turn to look at him.

"Stan, what can I say to him that's going to make up for me disowning him?" he asked.

"Wait, what?!" Stan barked, looking at his brother in disbelief because Marcus didn't tell him that detail; while Marcus turned around again, and poured the soup into the bowl. "Marcus, I know he didn't want to be part of the gang. But that's no reason to disown him. You didn't even want to be part of the gang when you were his age."

"Yeah, and you saw how that went," he said, putting Johnny's soup onto a tray. "Dad almost killed me. He's lucky I didn't do that."

Hearing Johnny's bedroom door slam shut, Marcus looked up the stairs before looking back at his brothers.

"I think he heard you," he said, peeking at Barry's cards while he wasn't looking.

"Damn it," he growled, getting the soup and going upstairs to Johnny's room again. The door now locked. "Johnny, open the door."

Not hearing anything from inside the room, he pounded on the door, and shouted at Johnny to unlock it. But his son still didn't respond for a good few moments before Marcus heard a sniffle.

Great, he was crying.

"Johnny," he called again, knocking on the door a bit more softly this time. "Johnny, unlock the door so we can talk."

"What's there to talk about?" Johnny said. "You already made things clear ten months ago when you disowned me. So don't worry, I'll be out of your hair in a few days."

"Johnny," he said. "I just-"

"Don't," he interrupted. "Don't bother trying to explain yourself. Just go."

"Can you at least unlock the door so I can give you some soup?" he asked. "I made your favorite, and I know you're probably starving."

Not hearing anything on the other end of the door, he knocked again and called Johnny's name. But all he got was silence, and sighed. Taking the soup back downstairs, and putting the tray on the counter.

"He okay?" Barry asked.

"He won't talk to me," he said, trying to hide his pain from his brothers.

"Do you want me to talk to him?" Baxter asked.

"No!" all three gorillas shouted.

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 **R &R**


	4. Chapter 4

**R &R.**

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"Johnny," Barry called, knocking on his nephew's door with a tray in his hand; the tray holding a bowl of soup, and a cup of tea. "I brought you some food."

Hearing Johnny get out of his bed, and shuffle over to the door to unlock it. He opened the door, and saw Johnny getting back in his bed. But his eyes immediately landed on the list of apartments for rent in the city that was sitting on Johnny's nightstand.

"You're looking for apartments?" he asked, setting the tray down, and picking up the booklet of listings. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Because otherwise I'll be homeless when dad throws me out," he said, taking the tea from the tray.

"Johnny, he's not going to throw you out," he said.

"Well, what use am I here?" he asked. "You guys are perfectly capable of picking up where I left off on fixing the cars. And I'm not his son anymore."

"Yeah, but he's not just going to throw you out on the street," he said as Johnny drank the tea in almost record time because he was really thirsty. "He's not that cruel."

"And I don't want him doing the same thing grandpa did to him when he said he didn't want to be part of the gang," he said. "He's right. I was lucky there was a sheet of glass between us, and security guards there when I told him."

"Johnny, your dad's not going to throw you out," Barry said. "And he's not your grandfather. He's not going to beat you just because you don't want to be part of the gang. He'll learn to deal with it."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better," he said, laying back down, and having no interest in the soup because he wasn't hungry. Despite having not eaten in days. "The only reason he's not throwing me out now is because I'm not eighteen yet, and he'd get arrested again if he did."

"Johnny," Barry said.

"Don't," he said. "I know I screwed up. But staying here longer than I need to will just make me even more of a burden on you guys."

"Johnny," he said again. "You're not a burden, and you can stay as long as you want. Just because your dad had a problem with you straying from the path he laid out for you, doesn't mean Stan and I do."

"You say 'had' as if he's not still mad at me," Johnny said before coughing harshly. "Can you please go? I'm still kind of tired."

"Alright," he said, getting up to leave. "And eat your soup. I know you probably don't feel hungry right now, but it'll be better to have something in you so you can fight this off rather than suffer on an empty stomach. Okay?"

"Alright," he said, snuggling up under his blankets. "I'll eat it in a little bit."

Taking the booklet of apartments from Johnny's nightstand, he let Johnny get some sleep, and went downstairs to where Marcus and Stan were eating dinner.

"How is he?" Stan asked, as Barry threw the booklet onto the table.

"Broken," he said. "Marcus, you have to talk to him."

"What can I say after ten months that's going to make up for what I said to him?" he asked.

"I don't know. But you have to think of something," he said. "Otherwise Johnny's just going to put himself into this position over and over again until he ends up in the hospital. And even then he'll just make his health worse because he won't calm down."

"You don't think I know that?" he said. "I'm already worried enough about him now."

"Well, you better talk to him soon," Barry said. "He's not eating anything. I tried talking him into eating the soup, and he just responded with going back to sleep."

"I'll talk to him tomorrow after I call him in sick," Marcus said.

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 **R &R**


	5. Chapter 5

**R &R. And yes, I did switch Johnny's last name from Meyers to Kade because aside from Buster, Eddie, and Nana, none of the characters have a canonical last name. So I just picked random ones.**

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By the time the next day rolled around, Johnny knew he couldn't stay in the house any longer, because being cooped up in his room the entire day just made him more anxious to get out of their. But he couldn't exactly walk out the front door with his dad and uncles downstairs. So, he snuck out his bedroom window, and went to the Moon Theatre since Buster needed some help with auditions for their next show. But when he was walking up the front steps of the theatre, he bumped right into Randy, the son of a rival gang leader that had been going at it with his dad for as long as he could remember.

"Well, well, well. Look who decided to show up," he sneered. "What are you doing here, Kade? Come to steal the prize money?"

"Move Randy, I'm not in the mood," he said, trying to push past the other teen gorilla to go inside; Randy shoving him back onto the sidewalk as his buddies came up beside him.

"Well, I can't exactly let a criminal into the theatre now," he said, pulling out a switchblade. "Can we boys?"

"Randy, move," he said.

"Or what? You'll hit me?" Randy scoffed. "Please, I can take you."

Getting up from the sidewalk, Johnny shoved Randy down, and tried to go inside. But Randy grabbed him and gave him off to his friends so they could beat him.

Falling to the ground again after Randy's friends threw him, Johnny coughed, and tried to get up. But Randy stepped on his chest, and almost stabbed him in the throat with the knife, had his dad not grabbed him and threw him into the side of a car that was on the street.

"Big Daddy?!" Randy said, shocked to see Johnny's dad standing in front of him. "I-I thought you were in prison."

"I got out a few days ago," he said, tightening his grip on the younger gorilla's shirt. "And I know you were not about to stab my son in the neck."

"N-No sir," he stammered. "I-I wasn't."

"Good," he said, throwing Randy at his friends. "Now all of you get out of here before I get the cops on your ass."

"You haven't heard the last of us Big D," Randy called as he and his friends ran away. Marcus helping his son to his feet, and shoving him roughly into the passenger's seat in the truck before driving him home.

Hearing his dad start to grind his teeth, Johnny knew he was going to be in for it now, and completely shut down. Barely listening to his dad when he chewed him out for sneaking off, and told him to go back to his room. Where he just dragged his aching body to bed, and fell asleep without a word.

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~ **Later that evening** ~

When Johnny woke up later in the evening, the first thing that he realized was he was extremely dizzy, despite laying down. His room tilting side to side so much that not only did it nauseate him, but it only made his brain that much more cloudy. And it wasn't until he got up to get a drink that he saw why he was so dizzy when he woke up. Randy had cut him with the knife while he was beating him, and he had been bleeding out onto his bed the entire time he had been asleep. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to make him dizzy; and having a fever didn't help either.

Getting up from his bed, Johnny changed his sheets to hide the blood, and put on a clean shirt until he got to the bathroom to patch himself up. But before he could even get the first aid kit out from underneath the sink, his dad walked in on him, and because he had taken his shirt off when he got to the bathroom, he saw the cuts that were on his son's ribcage.

"Johnny," he said, feeling stupid for not seeing if Johnny was okay after taking a beating from Randy.

"They aren't that bad," he said before he hissed in pain because Marcus had gotten the first aid kit out, and pressed an alcohol soaked cotton ball to them. "And what would you care anyway? I'm not your son."

"Yes, you are," he said. "And you're not eighteen yet. You're still my responsibility."

"So let me guess, you _have_ to care," Johnny said sarcastically, rolling his eyes at his dad before Marcus once again pressed the alcohol soaked cotton ball to his cuts. Sending pain up his ribcage. "OUCH!"

"Sorry," he said, sitting Johnny on the edge of the tub so he wasn't standing. "And if you had asked me that question ten months ago; I would have said yes. But I don't care that you got me arrested anymore. Right now, I'm more worried about the fact that you put yourself under so much stress, you got sick; and now have knife wounds because you snuck out. What were you thinking?"

"They needed an extra set of hands at the Moon Theatre," he said, keeping his eyes shut because he didn't want to show his dad that he was about to cry.

"And you snuck out for that?" he asked. "Johnny, I know I said you weren't my son. But if you had actually bothered to visit me when I was still in prison, you would've known I was sorry. Hell, I've been watching every single one of Moon's shows hoping to see you perform again."

"You have?" he asked, opening his eyes, and looking at his dad.

"Yes. I almost broke out the first time I saw you," he said, wiping away a tear that fell down his son's face. "And you didn't have to give up on everything just to get us all out. I would have gotten arrested eventually if you had shown up."

"But, you said-"

"Forget what I said," he said to him. "I can say that you're nothing like me until I'm blue in the face. It won't change the fact that you are my son. No matter what."

"Thanks dad," he said, feeling really stupid for shutting his dad out, and sneaking away to the theatre.

"Don't worry about it," Marcus said, ruffling the fur on his son's head. "Right now, I just want you to get better. So let's get you patched up, and get some food into you. You must be starving."

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 **R &R**


End file.
